Tornado belts out 21 hits, sweeps tourney twin bill

North Medford broke out the bats en route to a softball sweep Tuesday in the North Medford Spring Break Invitational.

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Posted Mar. 26, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 26, 2014 at 12:18 AM

Posted Mar. 26, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 26, 2014 at 12:18 AM

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North Medford broke out the bats en route to a softball sweep Tuesday in the North Medford Spring Break Invitational.

The Black Tornado pounded out 11 hits in an opening 8-3 win over West Salem, then returned to North Medford High to dispatch Southridge 7-1 after collecting 10 hits in the nightcap.

"They made really good adjustments after about the fourth inning of Game 1," said Tornado head coach Mike Mayben. "It was a different type of pitcher that we saw today. We saw a lot of power pitchers yesterday but a lot of pitchers today who really hit their spots and changed it up and made it difficult on you to hit. Once they made the adjustments we did a good job of finding gaps and stringing hits together."

Katie Ramsay gave North Medford (4-1) a big lift against West Salem (4-2), finishing 2-for-3 with four RBIs, while Grace Jovanovic was 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI and Megan Cowden 2-for-3. Janelle Rodgers added a two-run single in a five-run fifth inning.

Ramsay plated Joci Ellis, who scored three times, on a sacrifice fly in the third to tie the game at 1-all, then added an RBI single in the fifth and a two-run double in the sixth.

Alexis Barkwell earned the pitching victory after allowing two hits and two runs over six innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks.

Against Southridge, Barkwell used a pair of RBI singles to finish 2-for-3 with one run and two RBIs, while Ellis was 2-for-3 with two runs, Jovanovic 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI and Keisha Williams 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

Sarah Thomas went the distance for her first varsity win, allowing three hits with six striekouts and three walks over seven innings against Southridge (5-1).

SOUTH MEDFORD SWEPT — South Medford tallied 25 hits but dropped a pair of close games at U.S. Cellular, falling to Dallas, 9-7, and Newberg, 5-4 in eight innings.

Against Dallas, the Panthers owned a 6-1 lead before Makena Linn's grand slam highlighted the Dragons' eight-run fifth inning.

Rachael Moore went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Bailee Tatum 3-for-4 and Brittany Miller 2-for-4 with two RBIs for South (2-3), which finished with 14 hits. Pat Moore was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Tia Garrett 2-for-4.

Against Newberg, the Tigers' Paityn Willoughby had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

Hannah Newman's double scored Rachael Moore with two outs in the top of the seventh, tying the game at 4. The Panthers held Newberg scoreless in the bottom of the inning before the Tigers turned a double play to end the top of the eighth.

Liz DeVaughn finished 3-for-3 and Miller and Garrett were both 2-for-4 for South, which had 11 hits.

EAGLE POINT SPLITS — Eagle Point used a two-out rally in the seventh inning to beat McNary, 4-3, and salvage a split on the day after falling to St. Helens, 11-3, at U.S. Cellular.

With the Eagles trailing 3-2, Emily Jeffries hit a double to drive in Teanna Gonsalves with two outs in the top of the seventh. A throwing error by McNary after a Paige Leeper grounder brought home Jeffries for the winning run.

Molly Hildreth went 2-for-3 and Leeper added an RBI single for the Eagles (1-3), who trailed 3-1 entering the top of the sixth.

Megan Ayres' run-scoring single cut the deficit to one.

Winning pitcher Gonsalves struck out four, including two in the bottom of the seventh.

Agains St. Helens, Ayres pounded a fifth-inning solo home run. Taylor Leal finished with three doubles and six RBIs for St. Helens.

PHOENIX FALLS TWICE — Phoenix lost to South Eugene, 6-3, then Sprague routed the Pirates 20-4 in five innings.

Against South Eugene, Phoenix (0-4) bunched three of its five hits together in the sixth inning to score all three runs. Tiona Hurd opened the rally with a double and scored on Bailee Tally's double. Amanda Skaff provided an RBI double and scored on a fielder's choice.

Sprague scored 16 runs on 10 hits, four walks and two errors in the fourth inning. Karen Murphy's two-run homer highlighted the outburst.

In fifth inning, Hurd contributed an RBI single for Phoenix, then Makayla Scoggins drove in three runs with a two-out single